STOPPING SOY-DRIVEN DEFORESTATION

The document argues that financial institutions must use their leverage to force soy traders to adopt strict no-deforestation commitments, including clear cut-off dates and full traceability, to mitigate climate and biodiversity risks.

• Soy production is a primary driver of deforestation and ecosystem conversion in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado. The Cerrado, the world's most biodiverse savannah, has already lost 50% of its original surface area and stores 13.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide.
• A small group of six soy traders—ADM, Bunge, Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, Amaggi, and COFCO—accounted for 66% of the deforestation risk related to soy expansion in 2017. Despite having sustainability policies, these traders are criticized for failing to prevent deforestation in their supply chains.
• Current soy trader policies are deemed insufficient because they lack clear 'cut-off dates' for when deforested soy will no longer be accepted, lack contractual clauses with producers, and suffer from a lack of transparency and traceability.
• Monitoring data from March 2019 to March 2021 links Cargill to the clearing of over 66,000 hectares and Bunge to almost 60,000 hectares. Both companies continued to source from SLC Agricola despite its association with over 11,000 hectares of deforestation.
• The authors recommend that financial institutions make financing contingent on five requirements: a commitment to no-deforestation by the end of 2022 (with cut-off dates of 2008 for the Amazon and January 1, 2020, for other areas), a supplier engagement protocol, full traceability to the source, robust independent verification, and respect for human rights and indigenous peoples' FPIC.
• Voluntary certification systems like RTRS and Proterra are considered ineffective at stopping deforestation because they only account for 1.53% of total production and often allow for mass balance systems that mix certified and non-certified soy.
• The document argues that soy expansion can be achieved without further habitat conversion by utilizing approximately 18.5 million hectares of existing pastureland suitable for soy crops.

APA

Hernández, A., & Le Guenic, K. (2022). STOPPING SOY-DRIVEN DEFORESTATION. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Soy_QA_briefing.pdf

Chicago

Hernández, Andrea, and Klervi Le Guenic. STOPPING SOY-DRIVEN DEFORESTATION. Reclaim Finance, 2022. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Soy_QA_briefing.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hernández |first1=Andrea |last2=Le Guenic |first2=Klervi |title=STOPPING SOY-DRIVEN DEFORESTATION |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=May 2022 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Soy_QA_briefing.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hernndez2022stopping, author = {Hernández, Andrea and Le Guenic, Klervi}, title = {{STOPPING SOY-DRIVEN DEFORESTATION}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Soy_QA_briefing.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }